ACIM Lesson 29 God is in everything I see.

God is in everything I see.

ACIM Lesson 29

Lesson 29

God is in everything I see.

1. The idea for today explains why you can see all purpose in everything. ²It explains why nothing is separate, by itself or in itself. ³And it explains why nothing you see means anything. ⁴In fact, it explains every idea we have used thus far, and all subsequent ones as well. ⁵Today’s idea is the whole basis for vision.

2. You will probably find this idea very difficult to grasp at this point. ²You may find it silly, irreverent, senseless, funny and even objectionable. ³Certainly God is not in a table, for example, as you see it. ⁴Yet we emphasized yesterday that a table shares the purpose of the universe. ⁵And what shares the purpose of the universe shares the purpose of its Creator.

Our Foolish Attempt to Change Reality

Yes, I know. This lesson sounds strange, even silly. Maybe it makes you feel uneasy. But stay with me here as I share my understanding of this lesson. When we look at anything in the world, including that table we used in yesterday’s lesson, we are using our eyes. Our eyes don’t show us anything that actually exists. But if we go deeper, not with our eyes but with our mind, we will see purpose. We will see God. Another way to say this is that we will have forgiven the world we made.

This is what happens when we forgive a grievance, too. We look past what we believe someone did to us. We see that it was our thoughts about the situation that hurt us. This is forgiveness and it is our purpose. The same idea applies to what the eyes show us. We see separate things all around us and give them names and each a special meaning.

We seem to divide up creation and make it different than it is. As we look past the illusion of separate things, we forgive (let go) of our foolish attempt to change reality. We see (are aware of) what is actually there. We become aware of God’s creation. And God is one with His creation because ideas leave not their Source, so we become aware of God.

Nothing Is as it Appears

3. Try then, today, to begin to learn how to look on all things with love, appreciation and open-mindedness. ²You do not see them now. ³Would you know what is in them? ⁴Nothing is as it appears to you. ⁵Its holy purpose stands beyond your little range. ⁶When vision has shown you the holiness that lights up the world, you will understand today’s idea perfectly. ⁷And you will not understand how you could ever have found it difficult.

I accept that nothing is as it appears to me now. It used to upset me that people at work were not doing their job right. I kept bringing these thoughts to the Holy Spirit until I had forgiven the situation. Then I could look with an open mind and see in the innocence behind the situation. I was able to see the holiness in the people I worked with.

It used to be hard for me to make this change. I would have to work at it, sometimes for a long time before I could see differently. Now this way of seeing comes naturally, and if old conditioning triggers old behavior, it is easy to change. And really, I don’t understand why it was so difficult before so Jesus is right about that, too. It is harder for me to look at an object and clear my mind so that I can see what is truly there. Still working on that.

The Practice

4. Our six two-minute practice periods for today should follow a now familiar pattern: Begin with repeating the idea to yourself, and then apply it to randomly chosen subjects about you, naming each one specifically. ²Try to avoid the tendency toward self-directed selection, which may be particularly tempting in connection with today’s idea because of its wholly alien nature. ³Remember that any order you impose is equally alien to reality.

5. Your list of subjects should therefore be as free of self-selection as possible. ²For example, a suitable list might include:

³God is in this coat hanger.
⁴God is in this magazine.
⁵God is in this finger.
⁶God is in this lamp.
⁷God is in that body.
⁸God is in that door.
⁹God is in that waste basket.

¹⁰In addition to the assigned practice periods, repeat the idea for today at least once an hour, looking slowly about you as you say the words unhurriedly to yourself. ¹¹At least once or twice, you should experience a sense of restfulness as you do this.

Clearly, I need this practice so I will do it. I was looking at a box on my desk where I keep my rubber bands. The thought that came to me is that this box is not really there, it is in my mind. It is an image of an idea in my mind. If I look only with my eyes, I see a box covered in shells. Thinking of it with ego-mind, I see a box with some history, and not something I would have chosen for myself. Now I put all that aside, all the thoughts about what I like in boxes and how I feel about owning this box. I feel something different about it. I feel the love that brought the box into my life. Hmmm.

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 29 click here.

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